Gambit

Missing in two of our best series wins in the last 5 years.

Yup. Other stalwarts include Alex Tudor, Dwayne Bravo, Vasbert Drakes etc.

Exceptions don’t prove the rule. Similar lists can be made for the Australian team which probably had the best players of pace bowling but ended up giving 6fers to Agarkar, Harminson, etc.

A grand total of 8 countries have won the football world cup. 6 have won the cricket world cup and 4 have won the rugby world cup. The core in all these sports remains largely the same so underplaying performance in cricket by saying it is only played by a few countries is a weak argument.

There is no coping. This is a lifelong pain - up there with 96 and 03. This was ours and even winning the next two will not heal this. Atleast not for me.

OP was hiding for 2 months when India was doing well, Rohit was leading from the front and Mr. Glass was out injured. He has now magically surfaced to revel in negativity and to hero worship Mr. Glass (who hit 11 runs off Shaheen including 5 byes that are attributed to Mr. Glass).

Ashes was actually earlier this year. Seems like you have already forgotten the series, surprising for someone who claims to be such a purist.

Bumping this. How clutch has Kuldeep been. The second spell against NZ at Dharamshala and the last 2 overs in the semi are testament of his mental fortitude. Whoever is responsible for his return (Rohit, Dravid etc) deserve appreciation for backing him. Now, he needs to be part of all test squads.

The most painful defeats for me have come when we have won the toss and opted to bowl first like idiots in a high pressure game - 96 WC semi, 03 WC final, 07 WC v SL and 17 CT final. In a game like this if we win the toss, we have to bat first. No question about it.

He has definitely been playing selfishly this World Cup. There was no need to anchor post 35th over when he literally walked from 80 to 100. Tendulkar has also played selfishly in the past but not to this extent in World Cups. Thank god for Rohit and the way he’s played; he could have easily helped himself to many 100s if he wanted by playing like Kohli.

Tabloid journalism. There is no rule against this. Used pitches can be played on. Let us not fall for this deliberate smear campaign which is used to undermine any Indian win. If we lose, we are chokers. If we win, pitch and/or match if fixed. **** em. If we win this, let us rub this in their noses for 4 years. What is blatant is England fixing the boundaries at Edgbaston in 2019 and changing the ball on the last day of the Ashes this year.

Pakistan is a non entity in ODI world cups since 1999. Their fans can continue to live off the 1992 rain induced fluke. This deluded bunch has a standard template every World Cup - a) chest beating before the tournament of how they will pound us and how scary their attack is, b) losing to us and their pop gun attack being caned, c) praying for divine intervention during the tournament after they have lost to teams big and small and d) finding solace in some conspiracy theory after getting dumped unceremoniously in another World Cup. Pretty shameless or as the word in Urdu goes “beighairat” of them to try and hyphenate their team with us and compare their bang below average performance with ours. If all goes well, we will soon have 3x ODI World Cup trophies than them. Encourage more of them to come here and cry. It is fairly enjoyable.

They did win the biggest prize of them all though - The Emerging Cup

Very consistent performance from Pakistan. Have achieved a hattrick of failing to reach semi-finals three world cups in a row. As an Indian love the fact that despite their team always shitting the bed in the first half of the tournament, they keep giving their deluded fans tiny rays of hope that they cling to like little children until the final nail in their tournament coffin is rammed in brutally.

Rohit is the man of the tournament for me thus far. He has been detonating like an N bomb on the opposition from the first ball. My favourite was his assault on Henry and Boult when they probably thought they had the best conditions under lights at Dharamshala. He wears his captaincy also lightly. People don’t realise but it is only his second ICC tournament as captain (we reached the semi in his first one).